Core Text

Core Text is a Core Foundation style API in macOS, first introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, made public in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and introduced for the iPad with iPhone SDK 3.2. Exposing a C API, it replaces the text rendering abilities of the now-deprecated QuickDraw and ATSUI frameworks in previous versions of Mac OS X. According to Apple, Core Text is "designed for high performance and ease of use" and its layout API is "simple, consistent, and tightly integrated with Core Foundation, Core Graphics, and Cocoa."

// Prepare font CTFontRef font = CTFontCreateWithName(CFSTR("Times"), 48, NULL);

// Create an attributed string CFStringRef keys[] = { kCTFontAttributeName }; CFTypeRef values[] = { font }; CFDictionaryRef attr = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL, (const void **)&keys, (const void **)&values, sizeof(keys) / sizeof(keys[0]), &kCFTypeDictionaryKeyCallBacks, &kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks); CFAttributedStringRef attrString = CFAttributedStringCreate(NULL, CFSTR("Hello, World!"), attr); CFRelease(attr);

// Draw the string CTLineRef line = CTLineCreateWithAttributedString(attrString); CGContextSetTextMatrix(context, CGAffineTransformIdentity); //Use this one when using standard view coordinates //CGContextSetTextMatrix(context, CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.0, -1.0)); //Use this one if the view's coordinates are flipped

CGContextSetTextPosition(context, 10, 20); CTLineDraw(line, context);

// Clean up CFRelease(line); CFRelease(attrString); CFRelease(font);

$ Prepare font CTFontRef font = CTFontCreateWithName(CFSTR("Times"), 48, NULL);

$ Create an attributed string CFStringRef keys[] = { kCTFontAttributeName }; CFTypeRef values[] = { font }; CFDictionaryRef attr = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL, (const void **)&keys, (const void **)&values, sizeof(keys) / sizeof(keys[0]), &kCFTypeDictionaryKeyCallBacks, &kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks); CFAttributedStringRef attrString = CFAttributedStringCreate(NULL, CFSTR("Hello, World!"), attr); CFRelease(attr);

$ Draw the string CTLineRef line = CTLineCreateWithAttributedString(attrString); CGContextSetTextMatrix(context, CGAffineTransformIdentity); //Use this one when using standard view coordinates $CGContextSetTextMatrix(context, CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.0, -1.0)); //Use this one if the view's coordinates are flipped

CGContextSetTextPosition(context, 10, 20); CTLineDraw(line, context);

$ Clean up CFRelease(line); CFRelease(attrString); CFRelease(font);

External links

• Core Text overview at Apple Developer Connection